Sample Exam
A sample exam is provided in PDF format.

Here oral comprehension examples: exercises

Overall Aim 
The exam aims to evaluate the examinees ability to handle a broad range of communication situations with a certain degree of linguistic independence without needing to rely on fixed structures or formulaic responses nor be limited to brief conversations. He/she must show a sufficient command of the language to express him/herself with a certain degree of  precision, fluency and correctness.

Exam Structure
There are five sections to the exam: Reading Comprehension, Writing Skills, Oral Comprehension, Grammar and Vocabulary, Oral Expression.

The examinee must be capable of understanding a broad range of different non-specialized texts. He/she must be able to demonstrate general and detailed comprehension of the text and infer information, points of view and implicit attitudes within it, using different reading strategies in keeping with the overall aim of the text.

This section includes three exercises with a total of 20 items of the following types:

True/False.

Multiple Choice.

Matching.

The examinee must be able to write non-specialised descriptive, narrative or discursive texts about personal, work or academic matters. The texts must be coherently structured with clear ideas cohesive ideas and language use that is appropriate to the particular situation. The examinee must have a broad enough command of language and lexical structures to express him/herself fluently and using correct spelling and punctuation.

There are two parts to this section: one compulsory task of writing a text in an informal register and a second task to be selected among three different options, of writing a text in a formal register.

The texts could be letters, compositions, simple reports, etc. and must be written with a particular goal in mind and to a specific audience.

The examinee must be able to demonstrate general and detailed comprehension of oral texts in a colloquial or semi-formal register of different lengths, for example, dialogues, news commentaries, conversations on a controversial subject, lectures, etc. He/she must be capable of understanding the general meaning, the core information as well as specific details, and deduce non-explicit information (intentions, attitudes, feelings).

There are three parts to this section, with the corresponding texts and tasks, for a total of  15 items of the following types:

Multiple Choice.

Taking notes and giving brief responses.

The examinee must demonstrate his/her sufficient command of the language through completing various different exercises, most of them based on texts.

Thus, this section comprises six exercises in which the examinee must show that he/she can perform the following tasks: use correct spelling and punctuation; use correct Catalan structures (indirect discourse, verbal correlations, paraphrasing, impersonal speech); choose lexical or grammatical elements in keeping with the semantic and/or grammatical context; form words in keeping with their derivation and identify the meaning of a word or expression.

The following types of items are used:

Filling in blanks (phonetic alphabet, accents, etc.).

Complete a text through multiple choice answers.

Sentence Transformation.

Word Derivation.

The exam is done with two examinees at the same time. The examiner provides them with the necessary support material (photographs, texts, drawings, etc.).
The examinee must show that he/she can organise and manage the discourse, interact with an interlocutor to resolve a task and converse on a subject of general interest.

There are three parts to this section, each one with a different focus: in the first part the examinee must discuss a subject for one minute; in the second part the two examinees must come to an agreement on, or make a decision about, a particular task; and in the third part the examinees must have a conversation.

The examinee receives a pass or fail grade. A passing grade requires a 60% minimum grade in oral expression and 60% on the rest of the exam.

The following link offers a broad selection of useful bibliographical resources for learning Catalan (complementary methods and materials).